Day in Rock Report for 04/23/2018

Today's Day in Rock Stories

(hennemusic) Lynyrd Skynyrd will play the final concert of their Last Of The Street Survivors Farewell Tour at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, FL on September 2. The Southern rock icons will be joined by additional "special guests" at the hometown show.

"This is a dream come true for the Lynyrd Skynyrd band," said singer Johnny Van Zant. "We're going to rock the house here. My brother and Gary [Rossington] and Alan Collins started this band a long time ago. We are on our farewell tour. It's time to wrap it up. To be able to play Jacksonville, here, with the Jags, come on. It doesn't get any better than that."

"We are very excited to have friends Jason Aldean and Kid Rock join us in our hometown of Jacksonville," added guitarist and sole original founding member Gary Rossington. "Playing where the band got its start all those years ago is always special but having these guys with us makes it even sweeter. We can't wait to rock EverBank Field!" Read more

Former Rainbow and Deep Purple frontman Joe Lynn Turner's camp has released a statement via social media confirming that he suffered a "myocardial infarction" (aka heart attack) and is currently recovering.

The following was shared on his Facebook account on Friday (signed by Turner and his wife), "Thank you for being patient and so supportive through these hard days for us... We are truly humbled by the amount of love and concern that has poured from every part of the planet! It truly warms our hearts and inspires us to win!

"As many of you are aware by now, Joe Lynn Turner experienced a myocardial infarction last week. It happened without any prior warning signs... He is in the hospital, stable and in very good spirits. He will continue to receive medical care and full physical rehabilitation for several weeks and afterwards will take some time off to recover." Read the full statement

Former Twisted Sister guitarist Jay Jay French shared a harsh opinion of the current incarnation of Judas Priest, who are currently touring with out guitarist Glenn Tipton, who stepped away from performing full time due to Parkinson's Disease.

French was a guest on Three Sides of the Coin and we were some excepts including what he had to say about Judas Priest, "Now look at what you've got with Priest. K.K.'s gone, he runs a golf company, and now Glenn's left, and it's wonderful, and now it's a cover band."

Jay Jay continued to discuss his view of aging rock bands still performing, "Well (Judas) Priest is 65 years old… 70 years old. Saxon's 80 f***ing years old. The Rolling Stones are 90 years old. I mean Stones fans are so old the old clobs are afraid the lights will go on in the room.

"Watching Keith and Woody trying to play guitar is like being driven in a tour bus by José Feliciano and Ray Charles without a GPS. It's a terrifying f***ing experience. If the Stones were smart they'd hire two 25 year old guys from Nashville who know how to play the songs parts than let these two cadavers walking around stage f***ing acting like Johnny Depp in f***ing Pirates Of The Caribbean. And it bothers me that they charge eighty-two hundred dollars. At least when you go to see The Eagles there's 45 guys on stage. " Watch the full interview

(hennemusic) The Scorpions have announced a series of fall US concert dates. The two-week, five show run - with guests Queensryche - will begin in Lake Tahoe, NV on August 31 and see stops in California, Texas and Florida.

The trek highlights The Scorpions' eleventh album, "Crazy World", which peaked at No. 21 on the US Billboard 200 with help from the international hit and Top 5 US single, "Wind Of Change."

During the extended tour, the group released a new collection, "Born To Touch Your Feelings - Best Of Rock Ballads", last fall. The project features fourteen of the band's most famous ballads, a new acoustic recording of "Send Me An Angel", and three new tunes: "Follow Your Heart", "Always Be With You" and "Melrose Avenue." See the dates

(hennemusic) "Scream For Me Sarajevo", a documentary about a 1994 concert in war-torn Bosnia by Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson, will be released via DVD, Blu-ray and digital formats on June 29.

Billed as "a story of hope in a time of war", the project tells the tale of a concert by Dickinson and his band Skunkworks at a time when the Bosnian War was raging and Sarajevo itself was under siege.

Featuring footage from the historic gig, the film also meets those that made it to the show and made the show happen; determined to keep living their lives despite the atrocities going on around them. Interviews with the band, crew and security bring home the reality of the situation that was not only dangerous, it was barbaric.

"We weren't protected, there was no plan and the bullets were real, but f**k it, we went anyway," said Bruce in his recent best-selling autobiography 'What Does This Button Do?' "The gig was immense, intense and probably the biggest show in the world at that moment for the audience and for us. That the world didn't really know didn't matter. It changed the way I viewed life, death and other human beings."

In addition to the film's June 29 release, a soundtrack album will be issued on CD/2LP on the same day. Read more

The Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson looked back at his former band's collaboration with legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and says that Robert Plant gave him his blessings.

Back in 1999, Page teamed up the Black Crowes for live performance of Led Zeppelin classics and some blues standards which resulted in the double live album "Live at the Greek: Excess All Areas".

During a recent interview with AL.com Robinson had the following to say about the one-off team-up, "I got to open for Robert when I was 23 years old. I spent two tours, back-to-back opening for Aerosmith and Robert Plant as a little frontman, so ultimately Robert has my great respect and I had to find some way to sing those songs that people who love Led Zeppelin would still like them. Robert told me that I did a good job. He gave me his blessing, so that's all that I needed."

Malevolent Creation and Fire For Effect frontman Bret Hoffmann revealed the sad news to fans that he has been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and has been hospitalized for treatment.

He shared, "Hello, everyone! I am still in hospital attached to a double pick IV line they installed in me the other day, otherwise they have to move the little IV lines every 4 days, and between all the bags of med going in and the bloodwork everyday my hands were becoming green and blue bruise zones. The blood thinners help with that.

"I will fill in more of this messed up story when I get out. I have been in hospital for almost 2 weeks now, I've had a major surgery, many proceedures and tests. Have not eaten that entire time and have not even smelled the outside air in that time. I am, however, progressing forward. They do want me out so that I can go home and heal and rehab. That may take weeks, after that they have a treatment they are confident in for my cancer, I know I have a long road and life has changed. I will still finish new album and do music, I just have a bit more important task at hand for the near future. This, so far, has been the most trying, painful, torturous event that has ever happened to me. I am on the battle wagon and I'm rolling! My wife, Kim, has been a rock for me! I love her with all my heart! My very close friends have all been battling with me and I've needed that support.

"Listen, if you have not been to a doctor, especially in years, get to one ASAP! Don't think your too cool or sh*t won't happen to you, cuz I promise you will find yourself in a world of hurt! My sh*t was huge and they still got it in time to help me. I see older people here dealing with this and they are f***ed, mass pain meds and life is a bed for now on in their lives. Get to a doctor please! I don't want to see my family, friends or fans go through anything like this ever. I will be back, I will post here and there, I will def let you guys know when they spring me from this hospital (my doctors kick ass). Thank you all for the love and I love you all back!" He setup a Gofundme page

(hennemusic) Bruce Springsteen is streaming a video preview of the limited-edition vinyl box set, "The Album Collection Vol. 2, 1987-1996", ahead of its release on May 18.

Featuring five albums and two EP's from the period, the 10LP package delivers remastered editions of 1987's "Tunnel Of Love", 1992's "Human Touch" and "Lucky Town", 1993's "In Concert MTV Plugged", and 1995's "The Ghost Of Tom Joad", as well as the 1988 "Chimes Of Freedom" EP, and the first-ever vinyl release of the 1996 EP "Blood Brothers."

Remastered by acclaimed engineer Bob Ludwig and Springsteen's longtime engineer Toby Scott, the project presents recreations of the albums' original packaging, accompanied by a 60-page book featuring rarely seen photos, memorabilia and original press clippings from the era.

All four of Bruce Springsteen's studio albums from this period were certified gold, platinum or multiplatinum by the RIAA, with three reaching the Top 5 of the Billboard 200. Watch the video and read morehere.

(hennemusic) Metallica performed their version of Diamond Head's 1980 classic, "Am I Evil?", at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, Germany on April 9, and the band are sharing professional footage from the show.

The group originally covered the tune from the UK band's debut, "Lightning To The Nations", as a b-side to the 1984 single, "Creeping Death", before it appeared on the 1998 collection "Garage, Inc." and as a bonus track on the 1998 reissue of their 1983 debut, "Kill 'Em All."

Metallica's take on "Am I Evil?" resurfaced again earlier this month on the 2018 reissue of their 1987 collection, "The $5.98 EP - Garage Days Re-Revisited."

Available for the first time in decades, the set peaked at No. 28 on the US Billboard 200 upon its original release on its way to sales of more than a million copies in the country. Watch the video

Orgy are giving fans an advance preview of their forthcoming new single, "Army to Your Party" featuring rapper Crichy Crich, which is set to be released on May 11th as part of an EP featuring various mixes of the track including a radio edit, instrumental, and a cappella

"'Army to Your Party' is the super single release for the upcoming #newmusic Orgy record, which we'll tell our fans more about very soon," says Orgy's Jay Gordon. "'Army to Your Party' features a guest appearance by the homie Crichy Crich, who is sick and gritty, so I know people will appreciate his contribution to the track. We're thrilled to also have the track be part of the new MX vs ATV All Out video game, and to have our new drummer, Raanen Bozzio (son of my favorite drummer of all time Terry Bozzio), join the ORGY fold! Lots of exciting things happening in the world of ORGY right now."

"Lyrically, 'Army to Your Party' wreaks havoc on pointless cliques and Energy Vamps, as I often to refer to them by," adds Gordon. "Those are people who just have to rain on your parade and complain about everything just for the sake of complaining, yet offer nothing themselves." Check out the preview

Organizers of the 9th annual Monsters Of Rock Cruise has revealed some of the details for next winter's cruise which will setting sail from Miami on February 24th.

The five-day/five-night full ship charter cruise -- dubbed Band Overboard -- will set until March 1, 2019 aboard Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas and visits two ports: Ocho Rios, Jamaica and the Private Isle of Labadee.

Angel Vivaldi has announced that he will be hitting the road this summer for a U.S. tour that will also include support from Hyvmine, and Day of Reckoning will be joining the bill for various dates.

The Melodic Decadence tour is scheduled to kick off on June 22nd in Poughkeepsie, NY at the The Chance Theaterand and will be concluding July 21st in Clifton, NJ at Dingbatz.

Vivaldi will be performing his newest album, Synapse, in its entirety at these shows. He had this to say, "This tour will visually reflect the concept of what my newest release, Synapse, is all about. Much like the writing process, which included me painting my studio 9 different colors for each song, I plan to use the stage as a blank canvas to vividly bring the audience into that experience with me, but in a live setting. I am anxious to perform Synapse from beginning-to-end in addition to fan favorites for a night of sensory immersion they won't soon forget." Read more

JJ McGuigan recently won the Best Lyric Video award from L.A. Music Video Awards and to celebrate we asked him to tell us about the song from his "Dissociative" EP. Here is the story:

The writing of this song came about over several months of writing verses and bridges for it as I had early on settled on the chorus. I decided on what I thought would be best to take into the studio to make the song, leaving out several versus of what I had written due to not wanting the song to be too long and drawn out, so I decided on what might get the idea across the best. Me, Garrett Crow, and Scott Spriggs all met at Garrett's studio for the recording of this song and played I played the initial parts singer songwriter style to lay down a foundation for them. Garrett then used that to record drums as the first real take of the song. Myself and Garrett then laid down the acoustic parts along with Garrett adding some electric rhythm to fill in the gaps of the song. Scott then laid down the vocals which were stellar having only needed one take and a few punches here and there. The song obviously didn't take but one setting to complete albeit not counting the mixing and mastering by Garrett and Micajah Ryan at Air House Studios here in Wichita. One of the funny things that happened was we all thought we were in for a much longer night so we stalked up on and drank Garrett's famous Hawaiian coffee which kept us up hours after the song was done and we just sat around and talked about music for a few hours early into the morning not realizing how late it actually was. I will say it's the best coffee I've ever had hands down and we used it many nights during jamming and writing sessions of preproduction work leading up to finalizing the EP.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the EP